Third quarter propels Twin Lakes to Hoops Classic championship

LAFAYETTE - The first two quarters hadn't gone exactly as planned, but Twin Lakes girls basketball coach Brad Bowsman had a halftime message for his team.

The third quarter, that's ours, he'd tell the Class 3A No. 4 Indians in the locker room.

That motivational speech played out on the court shortly after.

Twin Lakes outscored Harrison 25-8 in the third quarter, riding that to a 55-33 victory in the championship game of the IU Health Hoops Classic at McCutcheon's Resler Gymnasium Saturday night.

"We came out way stronger and more competitive," said tournament Most Valuable Player Addie Bowsman, who had eight assists on nine Twin Lakes field goals in the third quarter. "We went for it and we took that quarter."

It's the second time Twin Lakes has won the girls Hoops Classic tournament and the first time since 2007.

How they did it was impressive, having to take out West Lafayette, Central Catholic and Harrison along the way, perhaps the three top teams in the tournament aside from the Indians.

"Just looking at the very beginning of the season, Northwestern, that was a challenge. Then Carroll. Then you move on to West Side and they challenged us," Brad Bowsman said. "We had to step up. Our girls have done a really good job of bending but not breaking as a team."

In the first round, it was a second-half comeback to rally from a double-digit deficit against West Lafayette. On Saturday night, Harrison did what it needed to do to hold the Indians at bay.

Twin Lakes leading scorer Olivia Nickerson was 0-for-8 and went scoreless in the first half. In the meantime, sophomore point guard Addie Bowsman scored 11 points to help Twin Lakes cling to a 22-19 halftime lead.

"This whole tournament, I don't know if it's been nerves, but we've had a tendency to start every game slow," senior guard Addi Ward said. "We just come out and collect ourselves in the locker room. Our coach gave us a really good speed and let us know the third quarter was ours."

Then, that third quarter.

Ward caught fire with 10 points in the period and 2:22 into the second half, Nickerson finally knocked down a shot, a 3-pointer that gave Twin Lakes a 28-22 lead. Hannah Hodgen scored six points in the final 34 seconds of the third.

Twin Lakes took a 47-27 lead into the fourth quarter, making the final eight minutes a mere formality.

"The first half we weren't bad. I won't say we were good, but we were right there," Harrison coach Rush McColley said. "The whole second half, we were bad defensively and they stepped up and hit shots, which makes it that much worse.

"We had to stay connected to their three guards and we weren't connected to them in the third quarter and all the sudden a three-point game became a 20-point game real fast."

Riley Flinn led Harrison with nine points and four assists.

But a fourth-quarter deficit against the Indians, who have four capable ball handlers in Ward, Nickerson, Bowsman and Hodgen, all with point guard experience, is doomsday.

Last season, Twin Lakes reached the championship of the Hoops Classic and left emptyhanded with a loss to Benton Central.

"Last year we were devastated," Addie Bowsman said. "We really thought we were going to beat BC. This was our revenge year. If we stay composed and were all together, we knew it was going to happen."

Ward scored a game-high 15 points, while Nickerson finished with 13 second-half points, earning her a spot on the all-tournament team along with Bowsman, Flinn, Central Catholic's Tori Thompson and West Lafayette's Sarah Werth. Bowsman collected 13 points, 11 assists and six rebounds in the championship win.

Third-place

Kendal Rider scored 17 points, Tori Thompson added 14 and Carley Barrett chipped in 11 as Central Catholic bounced back from a semifinal loss to Twin Lakes with a 63-34 win over McCutcheon.

Caitlyn Miller, who received the tournament's Larry Crabb Sportsmanship Award, led the Mavericks with seven points and six rebounds.

Fifth-place

West Lafayette closed with two tournament wins after first-round loss to Twin Lakes, getting 23 points from Werth and 16 apiece from Adrianne Tolen and Kennedy Martin in a 61-44 win over Class 3A No. 1 Benton Central, which got 14 points from Mariyah Rich.

Seventh-place

Rensselaer's Carly Drone and Taylor VanMeter had 16 points each and Sarah Kaufman added 15 in the Bombers' 71-24 win over Lafayette Jeff.

Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Third quarter propels Twin Lakes to Hoops Classic championship